The instant application is related to user generated autonomous digital tokens.
The arrival of the Internet as a commercial platform is driving the need to make digital payments possible and easy. To address these concerns, various forms of electronic currency have been developed and marketed by numerous companies. For example, eCash Technologies Incorporated, of Bothell, Wash., offers a product called “eCash”, which relies on encryption and digital signature technology to permit selected “eCash” banks to issue “eCash” currency to users, which may be spent on the Web sites of vendors who will accept this “eCash”. These vendors may then exchange the “eCash” for traditional money through an “eCash” bank. The use of “eCash” permits micropayments, and permits users to purchase products and services on the Web without using a credit card. The “eCash” system, and other similar systems, eliminate the need to use a credit card for each on-line transaction, and permit micropayments. Such systems require that users and merchants make arrangements with authorized banks, and require both the user and the merchant to convert between real currency and electronic currency through an authorized bank. Other ecash solutions include RocketCash Corporation, of Mountain View, Calif. The RocketCash system sets up accounts for teens who do not have credit cards, and permits their parents to add money to the accounts using checks, money orders, or credit cards. InternetCash Corporation, of New York, N.Y., offers a similar product, called InternetCash™, based on pre-paid card that is purchased in pre-determined denominations from a store, and may be used at selected on-line merchants. Another electronic currency, called “Beenz”, is provided by Beenz.com, Inc., of New York, N.Y. The “beenz” system permits registered users to earn “beenz” currency as an incentive for visiting particular Web sites, shopping on-line at particular Web sites, and other on-line activity. Numerous patents on electronic currency have been issued. Among these are U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,207, to Turk et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,364, to Turk, which discuss electronic currency systems based on gold or some other commodity held at a central location. U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,595, to Ohta et al., describes cryptographic techniques that may be used by a bank to issue electronic cash. Like the other systems described hereinabove, the methods described in these patents use central organizations, such as banks, to manage user accounts and to handle transactions. Additionally, since the central organization controls the issuance of the electronic currency, the vendors who accept the electronic currency have no control over the value of the electronic currency, its sale price, the terms on which it may be bought, or to whom the electronic currency is sold. For example, it is not possible using such systems for a vendor of products or services to agree with his customer on payment terms for electronic currency that will be used to purchase goods, since the customer must pay a bank or other third-party organization for the electronic currency.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,376,621 discloses methods and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce using electronic tokens are described. The electronic tokens are issued and maintained by a vendor, who also provides products and services that can be purchased or rented using the electronic tokens. The electronic tokens may be purchased from the vendor either on-line, using a credit card, or off-line, using a check, money order, purchase order, or other payment means. Because the vendor is the issuer of the electronic tokens, there is no need for transactions to be handled by a third party, such as a bank or other organization.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency where the creation and transfer of bitcoins is based on an open-source cryptographic protocol that is independent of any central authority. Bitcoins can be transferred through a computer or smartphone without an intermediate financial institution. The processing of Bitcoin transactions is secured by servers called bitcoin miners. These servers communicate over an internet-based network and confirm transactions by adding them to a ledger which is updated and archived periodically using peer-to-peer filesharing technology. In addition to archiving transactions, each new ledger update creates newly minted bitcoins. The number of new bitcoins created in each update is halved every 4 years until the year 2140 when this number will round down to zero. At that time no more bitcoins will be added into circulation and the total number of bitcoins will have reached a maximum of 21 million bitcoins. To accommodate this limit, each bitcoin is subdivided down to eight decimal places; forming 100 million smaller units called satoshis per bitcoin. Bitcoin is accepted in trade by merchants and individuals in many parts of the world. Although the bitcoin is promoted as a digital currency, many commentators have criticized the bitcoin's volatile exchange rate, relatively inflexible supply, high risk of loss, and minimal use in trade.
U.S. Pat. Application No. 20130166455 discloses a physical device that carries Bitcoin value and can be physically delivered in a transaction. The physical device includes a representation of the value carried by the physical device. The representation is usable to transfer the value from the physical device to a digital domain.